Category: Ecclesiastes

And so we come to the conclusion of Ecclesiastes.

To be honest, it was probably one of the more difficult books for me to interpret.

I suppose one of the questions that really goes unanswered is whether or not Solomon really repented or not before he died.  We certainly see no signs of this in Kings and Chronicles.

One could see Ecclesiastes as his repentance and many scholars see it that way.  Others are not so sure.  I’m not either.

Either he repented, or he was basically saying, “It’s too late for me, but please learn from my mistakes.”

Now at the end of his journey, after wasting many years in a life that was at best half-hearted after God as he chased after other things, Solomon comes to this conclusion.

However many years a man may live, let him enjoy them all.

But let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many.  Everything to come is meaningless.

Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.

Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.

So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless.  (Ecclesiastes 11:8-10)

His words are pretty consistent with what he’s said throughout the book.

Enjoy your life.  But there will be dark times that you can’t understand, that seem meaningless.

That said, you can’t control that, so don’t waste your life worrying about it.

Live your life to the fullest.  But be wise with how you live your life, because God will judge you for what you’ve done.

Then in chapter 12, he charges us to remember our Creator while we are young.

All things come to an end.  The days of pleasure on this earth will end.  This earth will come to an end.

Strong, young men will become old and lose their strength.  For that matter, all of our bodies will start to fail.

And then our time will come and our spirits will return to the God who gave us life.

So Solomon ends by saying,

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.  (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)

The NIV adds the words “duty” after “the whole” but they are not there in the original language.

If you want a whole life, a complete life, Solomon says, seek God.  Make pleasing him your top priority.

Only by doing that will you find a life worth living.

I can’t help but wonder if, when Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, particularly from Matthew 6:19-34, he wasn’t thinking about what Solomon wrote here.

In many respects, the two passages are very similar.  And the conclusion is the same.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  (Matthew 6:33)

May we always remember what’s really important and seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness.

If we do, all we need, and beyond that, a life worth living, will be ours as well.

As we near the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon continues his argument for what is good.

As we saw in the last passage, he admits that life isn’t fair.  That even being righteous and wise doesn’t guarantee that everything will go well with you.

But he still presses on arguing for the virtues of being wise.  And he points out first that one act of foolishness can wipe out all that you in your wisdom have built up.

It could be the foolishness of another or foolishness of your own (Ecclesiastes 9:18; 10:1).

And so he warns about two things.

First, how we deal with people in authority.

Specifically, that we should hang in there when we make a mistake and our boss gets angry with us.  If we stay calm, apologize, and do what we can to make things right, then things may settle down (10:4).

He also warns to be careful what you say about your boss even in private because those words often find their way back to your boss (10:20).

In between, and then after that, he gives a long lecture on the folly of laziness.

There are some people that make all kinds of excuses for not working.  Some people say, “If I dig a pit, I might fall in it.”

Or, “If I do some masonry, I might disturb a snake and get bitten.”

Or, “If I cut some wood, I might end up cutting myself.”  (10:8-9)

But Solomon replies, “The answer is simple.  Work skillfully.  If you have enough skill you won’t have any problems.  Even if you have bad tools, you can have success.  Stop making dumb excuses.”  (10:10)

But still people complain, “Yeah, but who knows what will happen in the future?  Who knows if my work will be rewarded, so why work so hard?  It’s so tiring.  It’s just a pain to drive into town and work.”  (10:14-15)

So Solomon warns, “Things will start to fall apart around you if you don’t work.  Sure you may have fun now, but what will happen when you need something and you can’t pay for it?”  (10:18-19)

Other people say, “Well, how can I know I’ll be successful?  I might plant corn, but that’ll probably be just the year when wheat grows well and corn doesn’t.”

So Solomon replies, “Be wise then.  Prepare for all situations.  Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.  You may not know what will be successful, but if you diversify your efforts, at least one of them will be successful.  (Ecclesiastes 11:1-6)

All of this reminds me of the parable of the talents, and the wise workers and the foolish one.

The wise ones invested; the foolish one didn’t do so because he was afraid of what would happen if he lost everything.

Had he followed Solomon’s advice, both in dealing with his boss after a mistaken investment, and in diversifying, he probably would have at least tried to do something with the money he received.

But in the end, he incurred the very wrath he was trying to avoid.

How about you? Are you investing what God has given you?  Are you working hard using the talents and resources God has given you?

Or are you just making excuses for being lazy?

May God be able to say to us all,

Well done good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your master’s happiness.  (Matthew 25:21)

“‘ Who said life is fair?”

That’s a common retort when someone complains about the unfairness of life.  It’s common because it’s true.  Many times, life isn’t fair.  And that’s what Solomon touches on here.

The fastest person doesn’t always win the race (just ask Usain Bolt in the 2011 World Championships).

The strongest person doesn’t always win a fight (think about the Patriots of 2007 who went undefeated until the championship game when they suffered a brutal loss because of one of the most improbable catches in NFL history).

And the smartest or most talented people in the world don’t always succeed.

And Solomon gives the reason,

Time and chance happen to them all.  (Ecclesiastes 9:11)

Or to use a cleaned up version of a vulgar expression, “Stuff happens.”

You just never know, Solomon says, when something bad will happen to you.

He then gives another example of the unfairness of life, not based on chance, but on people’s character.

“Imagine a city,” Solomon says.  “It’s under siege, and it’s in deep trouble.  Fortunately, a poor, but wise man figures out a way to save the city.

But instead of being heaped with honors by his fellow citizens, instead of having a holiday named after him, everyone ignores him thereafter.

And even though he has more wisdom to share that would make their lives better, no one ever listens to him.

One would expect people to appreciate him.  But they don’t.  Let’s face it.  Sometimes life isn’t fair.”  (13-16)

How do we deal with life when it’s not fair?  When due to time or chance, or due to the flawed character of the people in this world, we don’t get what we deserve?

We have three choices.  First, we can get resentful and bitter.  Or we can live in resignation, and say, “That’s the way things are.”  Or we do what Jesus did.

Think about Jesus for a minute.  If there was someone who could’ve cried out, “It’s not fair,” it would’ve been Jesus.

He never did anything wrong.  He cared for people.  He placed them above himself.  He sacrificed his time for people.  Even in times when he was tired and wanted to be alone, if people came to him, he still ministered to their needs.

And yet, he was betrayed, he was forsaken, and ultimately, he was crucified.

But Jesus didn’t get resentful.  He didn’t get bitter.  He didn’t resign himself to the fact that life wasn’t fair.  Rather, he placed his life in his Father’s hand.  He continued to do his Father’s will and sought his approval.

And because those were his priorities, nothing could take his joy away.  He continued to care for people and love them to the point that he died for them.

Life isn’t fair.  We’re in a broken world that’s filled with broken people.  We can’t control that.  But we can control our response.

Don’t seek for fairness in this life.  You won’t find it.  Instead, do what Jesus did.  Put your life in the Father’s hand.  Continue to do his will, and seek his approval.

And if you do, you will find joy and meaning in an unfair world.

Solomon continues here the theme of chapters 7-8.  The problem of evil is insoluble by human wisdom.

And in a world such as ours  that has been corrupted by sin, we can’t predict what will happen to us, whether good or bad.

Good and evil come to all, even those who are righteous and wise (as much as fallen man can be righteous and wise, anyway).

As Solomon puts it in verse 1,

So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him. (Ecclesiastes 9:1)

But then he talks about the one thing we can all be sure to face.  Death.  And Solomon notes that it doesn’t matter whether you’re good or bad, death will come to all.

Basically, he says that when you’re dead, you know nothing, you do nothing.

You have no more reward for what you do.  All that you experienced, both good and bad, are things of the past.  And eventually, you’ll be forgotten.

And so he says,

Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.

Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.

Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun–all your meaningless days.

For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. (7-10)

In other words, make the most of your life.  Enjoy this life God has given you while you can.

And with that sentiment, I completely agree.

So often we let ourselves be overcome with worry about our lives, what’s happened in our past, what’s happening now, and what we fear for the future, that we fail to enjoy the good things we have in life now.  And that is a waste.

But there is one advantage that we have that Solomon didn’t.  The absolute knowledge that there is more to this life.

In the Old Testament, the best you have are shadows of an afterlife.  In the New Testament, Jesus makes it very clear that there is more to this life.  That there is something after the grave.

At a time when a woman named Martha was weeping for her brother Lazarus who had died, Jesus told her,

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. (John 11:25-26)

So make the most of life.  Live it to its fullest.  God made it for us to enjoy.  But know that there is hope beyond the grave.  We don’t have to live in uncertainty about what happens after we die.  We can know.

John wrote,

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.  (I John 5:13)

May we live and rejoice in that knowledge every day.

How often do we see the evil in this world and wonder why?

Last year, there was a huge earthquake in Japan.  That was bad enough, but it also resulted in damage to the nuclear power plant, and touched off a massive tsunami as well.

Many people look at all this and wonder why? How could God allow it?

Or we see all the evil that people do.  Just look at the newspapers and you can see murders, rapes, and all other kinds of crimes.  And again we ask why.

And as people look at all this, they often long for a time, seemingly not so long ago, when things were so much better.  When the evil we see today didn’t seem so rampant.

But Solomon writes,

Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.  (Ecclesiastes 7:10)

Why isn’t it wise to ask these questions?  Too often, we simply won’t be able to find the answers.

Be wise, Solomon says, and let God’s wisdom shelter your peace of mind.

Money can provide shelter for us to an extent, but ultimately, it’s God’s wisdom, and the perspective that comes with it, that can keep you sane in a world that seems to have gone insane.

But if we dwell on the whys of evil too long, it can lead to despair, or worse.

Solomon then gives an example of the person who has given into despair.

Consider what God has done:  Who can straighten what he has made crooked? (7:13)

In other words, the despairing person says, “How can I fight God?  All this evil is his fault.  I can’t change what he’s done.

“If you’re going to say God made the good times, then you also have to admit he’s responsible for the bad times too.  And the thing is, we never know what we’ll get from him.”  (7:14)

“What’s more, I’ve seen righteous people die early, and wicked people live long.  So why waste time being super-righteous?

“Of course I’m not going to be stupid and be super-wicked either.  That would just be stupid.  I fear God too.  But let’s not be extreme about all this.  I want to have my fun too, after all.”  (7:15-18)

But how does Solomon answer?

“What do you mean that ‘righteous’ people are dying early?  There are no righteous people.  I’ve looked up and down this earth and there is no one that qualifies as truly righteous.

Think about all the people you’ve heard curse you under their breath when they thought you weren’t listening.  But can you truly hold that against them when you do the same thing?

God made people good in the beginning, but they’re just going off doing their own thing now.  And you say they’re righteous?”  (7:20-29)

“So be wise; follow the laws set by the authorities, do what’s right, and though you may be suffering now, in the end, all will be made right.  But when you do evil, you become prey to its consequences, and you cannot escape. (Ecclesiastes 8:1-8)

“Yes, people hurt people in this world.  Yes, evil people that shouldn’t be honored die with honors.  Yes, we see wickedness spread because justice isn’t done.  But eventually justice will come.

“Yes, righteous people sometimes get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked get what the righteous deserve.  And it’s not fair.  It’s not right.  But you can’t control that.  And no matter how hard you try, you will never understand it.

Even the wisest people in the world cannot grasp the whys of all the evil in the world.  Even those who say they know, can’t supply all the answers.  So don’t drive yourself crazy trying to figure it out.

“Rather, focus on the good things in life.  Choose to focus on the good things that you see and have from God, and joy will follow you.”  (8:9-17)

I think Solomon is right.  The whys will drive us crazy if we let them.

The main reason is we can’t see the tapestry that God is putting together in this world.  A tapestry that covers the beginning of time to the end.  We couldn’t comprehend it if we tried.

But two things we can know.  Again as Solomon said,

For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.  (8:6)

And as he mentioned before in chapter 3,

He has made everything beautiful in its time.  (3:11)

We don’t have to understand the whys.  All we have to know is that God will work everything out for good for those who love him and have been called according to his purpose.  (Romans 8:28).

And if we remember that, we can find joy in this life even if we never do understand the whys of all the evil we see in this world.

Judas.  Peter.  Hitler.  Abraham Lincoln.

Famous names, all of them.  Except two of them would be better described as infamous rather than famous.  Names are things that last in the memories of people, for good or for bad.

And so in this chapter, Solomon talks about another way to find what’s good in life.  He says,

A good name is better than fine perfume.  (Ecclesiastes 7:1)

In other words, if you want to find what’s good in life, then seek to have a good name.  Build for yourself a name that you and others can respect.

How do we do that?

First, as I mentioned in my last blog, keep a right perspective in life.  By keeping perspective, it helps you keep your priorities in order, and to make right decisions in life.

Second, heed advice from wise people (7:5-6).  Don’t just listen to what you want to hear from your friends.  But when they warn you about a bad direction you’re going in, be humble enough to listen.

Ironically, this was something Solomon failed to do.  It doesn’t say as much in scripture, but I have to believe people like the prophet Nathan warned him about the direction his life started to go in.

But instead, Solomon relied on his own wisdom, and it let to his downfall.

Third, don’t love money so much that you let it corrupt you.  (7)

So many people from politicians to even Christian ministers have done this to their shame.  As Paul wrote,

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.  (1 Timothy 6:10)

Note here that it’s not money in itself that’s the problem.  But it is the love of money that has ruined more than one good name.

Fourth, finish what you start.  Remember that what you start is not so important as what you finish.

So many times, people try something new, but when things start getting difficult, they quickly abandon it and give up.  Their pride takes a hit because what they thought they’d be able to do easily doesn’t turn out to be so easy after all.

But Solomon says,

The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.  (8)

In other words, when things get tough, stick with it.  Be patient.  When you give up too easily, it speaks badly of your character.

Jesus once made the following statement concerning a person who had failed to consider the cost, and couldn’t complete a project, but the same could be said of a person who keeps skipping from project to project but never completes anything.

Jesus said,

For if he lays the foundation (to a tower) and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’  (Luke 14:29-30)

Finally, control your temper.  So many times we do foolish things because we can’t control our own temper.  We hurt the people we love, we make rash decisions, and do other things that cause us to look back on our lives with regret.

Solomon wrote,

Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.  (9)

How about you?  What kind of character are you building in your life?

For most of the first half of Ecclesiastes, Solomon focused on what is meaningless in life.

Now in the last part of Ecclesiastes 6, he essentially takes the part of the skeptic and says, “It’s all well and good to say that these things are meaningless.  But if I can’t find good in all these things you talked about, how can I find good in anything in life?

“How does all you have said help me?  Did God just create me to live a meaningless life then?  If so, how can I possibly fight him?  Is there any way to know that I lived a life worth living after I’ve gone?  (Ecclesiastes 6:10-12)

And it is that challenge which Solomon addresses in the rest of Ecclesiastes. But it’s in the first four verses of chapter 7 that I think we find a big key in finding what’s good in life.

Solomon wrote,

The day of death better than the day of birth.  It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.

Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.  (Ecclesiastes 7:1-4)

At first glance, this looks like pretty depressing advice.  I can find what’s good by thinking of dying?  That’s supposed to help me find what’s good?  But what is Solomon trying to say?

Basically, he’s saying that if you want to find what’s good, we need to keep our life in perspective.  Remember that life is short.  That all of us are going to die someday.  And if you can take that to heart, it will help you to remember what’s really important.

How often do we go to funerals of people we love, and think to ourselves about where our lives are going and what’s really important in life?

It’s usually when we face death that we realize that it’s not things like money or things that are important in life.  It’s the people we love that are important.  It’s doing God’s will in our lives that’s important.

I don’t think that there is anyone who on their death bed say, “If only I had worked more overtime!  If only I had spent more time going to parties!  If only I had spent more time doing my hobbies.”

Rather, if people have regrets in their lives, they say things like, “If only I had spent more time with my family.  If only I hadn’t wasted so much time in my life.  If only I had spent more time on the things that really matter.”

And yet, how much time do we waste on things that don’t matter?

How about you?  If you were to die today, could you say that you invested your life in what truly matters?  That your life counted for something?  Or would you have to say that your life was a waste?

It doesn’t have to be.  But we need to keep perspective.

How’s your perspective?

I’d be happy if only I just had…

How would you complete that sentence?  “A wife?”  “A better job?”  “More money?”

The problem is that if you’re discontent now, you’re probably never going to be content no matter what you have.  And that’s the point Solomon makes here.

Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.  This too is meaningless.

As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? (Ecclesiastes 5:10-11)

So many people want more money, but how much money is enough?  So many people want things, but how many things is enough?  For most people it’s never enough.

And so they keep stepping on others to get higher positions and higher salaries (5:8-9), but to no avail.  Sure they get more things, but somehow it never satisfies.

How often do you buy clothes that you never wear?  How often do you buy other things that you never use?

The amount of things you have increase, but as Solomon said in verse 11, all they are is eye candy.  They look good, but you never use them.

Not only that, but when wealth becomes your main goal, you start to worry about maintaining the wealth you have, and you start losing sleep over it. (5:12)

Other people hoard their money for fear of losing it, but in doing so, they never really enjoy life.  Still others waste it on bad investments, or foolish spending, and they lose it all.  (5:13-14)

Even those that are wise with their money can’t take it with them when they die.  It goes to someone else, and who knows what they’ll do with what you leave behind.  It could easily be squandered away in far less time than it took for you to accumulate it.

And so Solomon wrote,

This too is a grievous evil:   As a man comes, so he departs, and what does he gain, since he toils for the wind?  All his days he eats in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.  (16-17)

In other words, a life based on seeking to accumulate money and things is doomed to emptiness because while you’re alive, it will never bring satisfaction.  You’ll always be wanting more and afraid to lose what you have.

And when you’re dead, you’ll lose everything anyway.

How then can we be happy?

Solomon wrote,

The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much…

Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him–for this is his lot.

Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work–this is a gift of God.

He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.  (5:12, 18-20)

And again,

Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.  (6:9)

In other words, stop seeking things.  They will never bring you peace and joy in your life.  Instead, be content with what you have.

How about you?  Are your eyes always roving around to find things that will satisfy you?  Or are you satisfied with the things God has already given you?

When we are content with what we have, our sleep is sweet, and our life enjoyable.  Isn’t that what we really want?

How do we be content?  Paul found the secret.  He wrote,

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.

I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  (Philippians 4:12)

What is the secret?

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.  (Philippians 4:13)

The secret of being content lies not in things.  It lies not in trusting in things to make you happy.

Rather, it lies in placing your trust in Christ.  Making him your joy.  Making him the one thing you pursue above all else.

And when you do, you’ll find that you can handle being rich or poor, having many things or few, or even being single or married.  You will find that you can live with joy and peace through whatever situation you’re in.

And with that contentment comes a full life, regardless of what you have or don’t have.

Are you content?

To some people, God is like a genie.  We ignore him most of the time, keeping him in a bottle in the back of our closet or drawer.  But when we need something, we pull him out and ask him to help us.

Or to some people, God is like a parent that we can bargain with.  “Come on, I’ll wash the car if you let me borrow it on Friday!”

But Solomon here talks about the futility of trying to manipulate God.

Too often, people come before God, but instead of coming to listen to God and to seek his will, they try to manipulate him.

Some people try to do that with long prayers, thinking that it will impress God and get him to do things for us.  But Jesus said,

When you pray, do not keep talking on and on the way ungodly people do.  They think they will be heard because they talk a lot.

Do not be like them.  Your Father knows what you need even before you ask him.  (Matthew 6:7-8)  (NIRV)

Others try to bargain with God.  They really want something, and so they end up making foolish oaths without thinking about what they’re really saying.  The story of Jephthah was a good example of this.

But Solomon says this,

Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.  God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words…

Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.  (Ecclesiastes 5:2-3, 7)

When you come before God, how do you do so?  Do you come with many words, talking about your plans, your dreams, your desires?

Do you come before God with your complaints about your life and how unfair it is, and ask why he doesn’t do this or that?

Solomon says here that we would do better to do more listening to than talking to God.

Instead of focusing on what we want to say, we should focus on what God wants to say to us.  Instead of focusing on what we desire, we should focus on what God desires.

Instead of talking all the time, our words should be few.

Things like:

Father, I love you.

Father, you are worthy of all praise.

Father, may your kingdom come in the lives of the people around me.

Father, I desire your will in my life.  What do you want me to do?

Father, please provide my needs today.

Father, forgive my sins.  Help me to be more like you, and keep me from sin.

Father, _____ hurt me today.  Please help me to forgive him/her.

Father, please keep your hand of protection on me today.

Simple words.  But powerful words.  Words in fact, that Jesus recommended as the model prayer. (Matthew 6:9-13)

And then, instead of saying any more, just stand before God and listen.

I confess I don’t do enough of this.  But if we want a meaningful relationship with God, that’s where it starts.

Not with many vain words.  Empty words.  Meaningless words.

But with just a few words, and a heart that seeks to hear the voice of God.

The most popular player on a football team among the fans is the backup quarterback.

That’s the general rule for most teams unless you have a superstar quarterback.  Whenever the starting quarterback isn’t doing well, the fans are always calling for the coach to put in the backup.

And even being a superstar is not always protection for your position.

Take Peyton Manning.  He was not only the face of his franchise, the Indianapolis Colts, but he was also one of the major faces of the National Football League for the past 13 or 14 years.

But one major surgery later, and his team let him go.

The ironic thing is that when he changed teams, he took over for another quarterback who just skyrocketed in popularity across the nation last year, Tim Tebow.

Tebow quickly became a fan favorite and a national phenomenon despite his obvious problems passing the ball.  But somehow, his team managed to win behind him.

Yet when Manning became available, it was “Bye-bye Tebow.  Hello, Manning!”

All of this goes to prove one thing:  Popularity and your position in life is a fleeting thing.

It doesn’t matter how popular you are, or how high up in a company you may go, it’s not going to last.  And that’s what Solomon points out in this passage here.

First, he talks about the king who loses his position because he becomes so proud of who he is, and what he’s done, that he can no longer take advice.  As a result, he makes such foolish decisions that there is a coup, and he is eventually overthrown by another.

His successor, a poor man who came out of prison to become king, then found great popularity among the crowds.  But his popularity too, slipped away.

Are becoming popular and rising up in status then bad things?  No.  Jesus did both.  He rose up in status among the people, and also in popularity.

But Jesus himself knew that these things were fleeting.  That people were extremely fickle.  When he performed many miracles among the people, his popularity shot way up.

But John writes about Jesus,

But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.  (John 2:24-25)

Jesus was right to be skeptical of the people’s love and devotion.  One moment the people were proclaiming him as king.  The next they were calling for his crucifixion.

And so instead of focusing on his status or popularity, he focused on pleasing his Father in heaven.  Because he knew that was where true joy and fulfillment were found.

Not in pleasing people.  Not in gaining their love and respect.  But in having his Father look at him and say,

This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.  (Matthew 3:17)

How about you?  Is your main goal in life to rise in popularity?  To rise up in status in your workplace or among the people you live?

These things are fleeting.  They won’t last.  And if we seek them, we’ll miss out on the things that are most important in life.  Namely, the approval of the One who matters more than anyone else.

May our goal in life not be status or popularity, but the words of the Father saying to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.  You are my beloved son.  You are my beloved daughter.  And I am well pleased with you.”

Solomon tackles two opposite problems here in Ecclesiastes 4.  First, in verse 5, the person who doesn’t work at all, where Solomon says,

The fool folds his hands
and ruins himself.

I don’t think much needs to be said here.  I think it’s self-evident that by not working, you bring poverty upon yourself.  Even if you were born rich and manage to just live off of that money, you find a life that’s ultimately empty.

As I’ve mentioned before, God created work as a good thing.  And the most important work we can do is the building up of his kingdom.  And if you’re rich, and you never use what you have to invest in God’s kingdom, you will be held to account for it.  (See Luke 12:15-21).

But the polar opposite problem is the person who works too much.  Who lets his or her work consume them.

The biggest culture shock I had when coming to Japan was when I taught an English class, and one of my students said, “My husband is in Germany on business.”

When I asked how long he was going to be there, she said, “Oh, 5 years.”  I couldn’t believe it. But that is fairly typical in Japan. 

While in America this kind of lifestyle is lived mostly by traveling salespeople, sports players, military people, or entertainers, this is common with just about anyone with a full-time office job in Japan.  The company will unilaterally tell the employee, “You’re moving here.”  

And really, their only options are to quit, or to refuse risking demotion, or being stuck in a dead-end situation.  To the typical Japanese company, job trumps family every time.

This attitude can also lead to people staying at work far beyond normal working hours, with fathers almost never seeing their children.

The result:  many dysfunctional families.  The divorce rate in Japan if far below the divorce rate in America, but with fathers often overworking, the results can be somewhat similar.

And so Solomon wisely says that there is a need for balance.  In verse 6, he says,

Better one handful with tranquility
than two handfuls with toil
and chasing after the wind.

What happens when we don’t?  Our relationships fall apart.  In Japan, you hear of many couples getting divorced after the husband retires.

Why?  Because for so many years, the wife basically lived a single life with her husband always at work.  They never cultivated their relationship, and so when the husband retires, she finds they have nothing in common, and can’t bear the thought of living with him every day.

Solomon foresaw this and said,

There was a man all alone;
he had neither son nor brother.

There was no end to his toil,
yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.

“For whom am I toiling,” he asked,
“and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”

This too is meaningless—
a miserable business! (Ecclesiastes 4:8)

In other words, when you work too much, you lose perspective.  You get so focused on making money that you forget that it’s people, and most namely, your family that is most important.

More, you can forget the need to enjoy life.  The result?  A lonely, meaningless, miserable life.

But when you focus on those relationships, you find a more productive life (9), as well as people who love you and can support you in times of trouble or difficulty (10-12).

Where is your focus in life?  Is your work consuming you?  If it is, it’s time to start focusing on what’s important.  Your relationships with your family, and even more important, your relationship with God.

Because as Solomon said,

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. (12)

Your life intertwined with the lives of God and others who love you make a cord that cannot easily be broken.

“It’s a dog eat dog world.  So do whatever it takes to get on top, even if you have to step on others to do it.”

That’s the attitude of many people in the world today.  They see life as a competition.

They see what others have, and they want those things too.  They see what others have achieved, and they want to achieve those things too.  They are constantly comparing themselves with others, trying to best them.

And many people actually achieve great things because of this attitude.

But what does Solomon say about it?  He wrote,

And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.  (Ecclesiastes 4:4)

Why does he say it’s meaningless?  Because ultimately, we can never find the joy and satisfaction in life that God intended us to have.

Part of that joy is working with the people around us.  But when we’re constantly comparing ourselves with others and competing with them, it takes away from that joy.

Instead of rejoicing with their successes, we envy them.  Instead of rooting for each other to succeed, we try to keep each other down, so that we can push ourselves up.

But that kind of attitude destroys relationships, and can make our workplace environment toxic.

Not only that, our work becomes very self-centered.  It no longer becomes about what God wants to accomplish in our lives, but what we want to accomplish.  When that happens, we start straying from the plan that God has for us.

But true joy only comes when we’re doing the things that God created us for.  When we’re doing things that furthers his kingdom.

And what is his kingdom but his work in the lives of the people around us?  The very people we’re competing with and envying for the things that they’ve achieved and the things they have.

But when we’re constantly competing with and envying them, we’re no longer interested in reaching out to them with the love of God.  Rather, we’re trying to push down.  We use them as stepping stones in order to reach our own personal goals.

We may achieve a lot in this world as a result.  But we miss out on the joy that God intended us to have as we worked for his kingdom.  And everything we have achieved eventually fades away.

One day we’ll stand before God and he’ll ask us, “What did you do with your life?  What did you do with the people I put around you?”  What will our answer be?

What is your attitude as you work?  Are you making God’s kingdom your primary concern?  Are the people you touch in your job your primary concern?

Or is it only your own advancement and achievements?  Living a dog eat dog life will leave you empty in the end.

Let us instead make God’s kingdom our priority.  And in doing so, our work will not only be full of joy, but be fulfilling as well.

Looking at the overall context of chapter 4, I’m guessing that when Solomon is taking about people suffering through oppression, he was probably talking about people who were oppressed as slaves.

These were people who are not working out of enjoyment, but because they are being forced to for another’s profit.

And Solomon says essentially that it’s better to be dead, than to suffer like this.

I doubt that any of you reading this are slaves, but you may feel like one.  And you may feel like your job is sucking the very life out of you.

Believe it or not, God did intend work to be a joyful and fulfilling thing.

Work wasn’t a result of the fall, because God had given work to Adam before sin ever came into the world.  Namely, Adam was to take care of the garden God had placed him in.  What sin did was to make that work a struggle (Genesis 3:17-19).

But as Solomon notes, satisfaction and joy in our work is a gift from God (Ecclesiastes 3:13).  It’s only when we are separated from God that work often starts to become oppressive.

Even when we are walking with God, we sometimes find ourselves with oppressive bosses, oppressive workplaces, or oppressive work.  And when we’re in that situation, life can become a misery.

If that’s you, I do believe that God has something better for you.  You may feel trapped in your job.  That there is nothing better out there for you.  But don’t believe that lie.  Pray and seek God’s face.

Unlike those without God, we have a comforter in our times of struggle.  Not only that, our Father loves us, and he has the power to change our situation if we turn to him.

Jesus said this,

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!  (Matthew 7:7-11)

Everyone searches to find meaning for their lives.  And many of them, especially men, but women as well, seek for it in their work.  For many, that’s where there self-esteem comes from.

And for the career-minded, that’s where they seek to make their mark in the world.  They want to be remembered for what they’ve done.  And so they pour a lot of their time and effort into their work.

Solomon did too.  But what did he find?

I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 

I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?

Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun.

This too is meaningless.

So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.

For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it.

This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.

What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun?

All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest.

This too is meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 2:17-23)

Solomon found despair in his work, because his goal was to make a name for himself.  To do something that was lasting, and would make an impact far into the future.

But he realized that once he was dead, he had no control over all that he had built.  The person who succeeded him could easily tear down all that he had worked so hard to build.

This in fact is exactly what happened.  Solomon’s son Rehoboam, through his own foolishness and stubbornness, caused Israel to split into two, with Rehoboam getting the much smaller part.

All that Solomon had done to forge a strong country, was undone shortly after his death.

But Solomon could see that possibility while he was still alive.  And so he went from despair to resignation, saying,

So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?  (3:22)

In other words, “All of us are going to die.  We can’t control what happens to all we built in our lifetime.  So we might as well not worry about it.  Just enjoy your work as much as you can.”

But there is an alternative way to see our work.  That all we do has its place in God’s tapestry of all he’s doing in the world.  And that God will weave what we do into something that has an impact on this world.

That is in fact what chapter 3 is all about.  There is a tapestry in life.  There is a time for everything.

A time to be born, a time to die.  A time to plant, a time to uproot.  A time to kill, a time to heal.

Some of these things we look as good, others as evil.  Others are just a natural part of the cycle of life.

But what Solomon realized is that they all have their place in what God is doing in this world.  Even the things we see as evil, God can in the big picture, turn into something good.

I really do believe, for example, that Satan has over the years tried to get rid of the Jewish nation, God’s chosen people.

The most notorious example in modern history was the Jewish holocaust.  It was pure evil what happened to the Jews.

But what was the result?  The Jewish state of Israel was reborn.  God turned something evil Satan tried to do, wove it into the tapestry of his overall plan for the world, and turned it into something good.

And that’s why Solomon could say in verse 11,

He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Even if we never see how everything works out in our lifetime, we can know that God will work everything out as he plans.

Even the injustice that Solomon saw, and that even we see today in our courts, that too will be worked out in God’s courtroom on the day of justice.  (3:15-17)

But getting back to work, Solomon writes again,

What does the worker gain from his toil?  (3:9-10)

If our life and work are self-centered, if we’re only concerned about what we do, and what we accomplish, then ultimately, we’ll end up like Solomon despairing that all we worked for will be wasted by another or forgotten altogether after we die. 

But if our life and work are God-centered, if we are focusing not on what we hope to accomplish, but on what God wants to accomplish, then we start to realize that what we’re doing will last because it’s part of the tapestry that God is weaving for this world.

As Solomon wrote,

I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. (3:14)

In other words, God has a plan, and nothing, not even the plans of man, can shake it.  He just weaves whatever we do into what he’s doing.

The only question we need to ask ourselves is whether God is using us because we’re cooperating with him, or using us in spite of the fact that we’re ignoring him or even fighting against him.

With the first path comes joy, with the latter, only frustration and ultimately despair.

As Solomon wrote,

Without God, who can eat or find enjoyment?

To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.  (Ecclesiastes 2:25-26)

One can’t go very far into Ecclesiastes without seeing the viewpoint Solomon argues from.

Whether he truly believed it or not, or is simply taking the argument of a person living apart from God, is a point of contention, but basically, he argues from the viewpoint that this life is all there is.

Time and again in chapters 2, 3, 8, and 9, you see him making this argument.

At times, he seems to despair at this thought, saying things like,

“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
What then do I gain by being wise?”
I said in my heart, “This too is meaningless.”

For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered;
in days to come both will be forgotten.
Like the fool, the wise man too must die! (Ecclesiastes 2:15-16)

And,

I also thought, “As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 

Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both:  As one dies, so dies the other.  All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal.

Everything is meaningless.  All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.

Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” (Ecclesiastes 3:18-21)

Again,

Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?  No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death…

righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve.  This too, I say, is meaningless.  (Ecclesiastes 8:7-8, 14)

And finally,

All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.

This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all.

The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.  (Ecclesiastes 9:2-3)

Solomon’s basic conclusion to all of this is one of resignation.  Just make the most of life that you can.  (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13, 22; 8:15; 9:7-10)

I would agree with Solomon that we need to make the most of life.  To enjoy this life on earth and the pleasures God gives us.  To be happy.  To do good.  To eat, drink, and enjoy the labor we’ve been given.  To enjoy our lives with our spouse.

But there is more to this life than just our time on earth.  Death is not the end.

And so when we see evil on this earth, we can know that there will eventually be justice.  When we see all the hurts and pains of earth, we can know that there will be healing.

And we can know that our decisions will have eternal consequences.  That God will repay us in eternity for the things we have done while on this earth.

Solomon said that God sets eternity in the hearts of men (3:11).

Part of that means that people would see death and cry out against the idea that this is the end.  Many people do, and despair.  Or like Solomon, they resign themselves to just making the best out of life that they can.

But what many people miss is that God sets eternity in the hearts of men so that they would hunger for him and seek him.

And if they would just do that, they would find healing in their brokenness, peace in the suffering they see in this world and in their lives, and a life worth living, both here on earth, and in the one to come.

So as we live this life, it doesn’t have to be lived in despair or resignation, but in the joy of knowing that there is more to this life.

How about you?  Are you in despair because you think this life is all there is?  Are you resigned to just making the most of life, thinking that everything is ultimately meaningless?

Seek God.  Because when you do, you will find the hope and meaning for your life that you and everyone else on this earth longs for.

Remember always the precious promise given in John.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  (John 3:16)

“If it feels good, do it.”

That was the cry of the ’60s, a time when drugs and the sexual revolution took off.

What was the result?  Broken marriages, broken homes, broken lives.  The rise of divorces, the rise of AIDS and other STDs, the fall of morality.

And yet, the pursuit of pleasure is not new.  Even back in the time of Solomon, people were doing this, and so Solomon, as an “experiment” tried it as well.  He said,

I thought in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” (Ecclesiastes 2:1)

And so Solomon accumulated things in order to please himself, building up his estate, amassing slaves, herds and flocks, gold and silver, as well as his own personal harem.

As I mentioned before, he not only had 700 wives, but 300 concubines as well.  And while they didn’t have drugs in those days, Solomon did indulge himself with lots of wine as well.

What was the end result?  What was Solomon’s conclusion?

That also proved to be meaningless.  “Laughter,” I said, “is foolish.  And what does pleasure accomplish?”…

When I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:1-2, 11)

Am I saying then that pleasure is bad?  No.  Pleasure is a good thing.  God wants us to enjoy life.  But when we make pleasing ourselves our chief goal in life, it always leaves us empty.

Why?  Because what we have is never enough.  As Paul wrote,

They have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.  (Ephesians 4:19)

The problem with lust, whether it’s for sex, things, or whatever, is that it is never satisfied.  It always seeks more.  And left unchecked, we’ll end up doing unspeakable things to satisfy it.

You see this in pornography and drugs most specifically, but it’s true with every other aspect of life.

There’s only one pursuit that truly satisfies.  The pursuit of God.  And when we pursue after him, we find not a temporary pleasure that comes but soon is gone.  But we find a joy that lasts forever.

People who don’t know God think of him as a killjoy.  As someone who wants to take joy from us.

But if you look at the life of Jesus, he was anything but a killjoy.  If anything, his opponents argued that he had too much fun.  (Matthew 11:19)

The truth is that Jesus wants us to have life.  And not to just have life, but a full life.

It is Satan that wants to take away that joy by offering something that feels good in the short run, but leaves us empty and in despair in the end.  And that’s what Solomon ultimately learned.

Jesus said this,

The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)

It’s the one question that everyone asks.  And it is the one question that can never be answered by human wisdom.  And yet people, intelligent people, wise people all strive to answer that one question.  What is it?

“Why?”

“Why are we here?  Why do people suffer?  Why do people die?  Why is there so much evil in this world?”

People have been asking these questions for centuries.  And for centuries, people have been trying by their own wisdom to answer them.

But there is a problem.  Our own knowledge and wisdom is limited.  And the truth is, there are simply some questions we will never be able to answer because of this.

That’s what Solomon discovered.  He said,

I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven.

What a heavy burden God has laid on men!  I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.  (Ecclesiastes 1:13-15)

In other words, when Solomon studied the world, he saw all the hurt and brokenness that was there.  And he realized, he had no answers to the whys.

All his wisdom could not heal all the twisted and broken things in the world.  All his wisdom could not fill the emptiness that people feel as they live life.  Ultimately, he could only conclude,

For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief. (18)

And without God, that’s what philosophers are left with.  Because they lack the ability to answer the question why, they can only conclude that life has no meaning, and the evil we see is just the way things is.

The best they can say is to just make the best of things.  Enjoy life while you can, because you never know what will happen tomorrow.

But those words hold neither hope nor healing for anyone.  Ultimately, it leads only to grief and despair.

There is only one person who knows the whys, and that’s God.  He’s the only one who sees not just the individual threads of our lives and the things that we suffer through, but the entire tapestry.

And so it is only in God, that we can find hope in the midst of our suffering.  It’s only in God that we can find hope for our future.

If you want to find hope, you won’t find it in human wisdom or philosophy, because no one on earth can answer the whys.

You can find it only in God who does know the whys.  But ultimately, the question you need to ask yourself is not “Why?”

The question you need to ask yourself is “Will I trust God?  Will I believe he is good in spite of my circumstances?  Will I believe that he cares despite all the tragedy and evil I see in the world?”

Only when you can answer yes to those questions, will you find the hope that you and everyone else in this world longs for.

It’s always so cool to go out with my 2 year old daughter.  Everything is still new to her.  Things that I take for granted, are still fresh and exciting to her.

How do we lose that childlike view on things?  Solomon certainly did.

Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.

The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.

All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.

All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.

There is no remembrance of men of old,
and even those who are yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow. (Ecclesiastes 1:4-11)

I think we get jaded when all our hopes and dreams start to fade.  The things that we sought, we find lead only to emptiness and loneliness.

We marry someone with great expectations, but the years pass, and soon the passion we once had for our spouse fades.

We buy new things, but after a few years, weeks, even days, the excitement fades.

We work hard all our lives, looking forward to the day when we can retire, and when it arrives, we find ourselves bored with life.  The things we thought would bring us pleasure, only satisfy for a short time, and then leave us dry.

How does that happen?  It happens when we lose sight of God in our lives. He is the source of love, joy, and peace in our lives.  Everything else can satisfy for a short time, but ultimately leaves us empty. 

But when our focus is on God, and on doing his will in our lives, then every day remains fresh and new.

When we love and honor our spouses as God intended, the marriage blossoms all the more instead of wilting away as time goes by.

When we do the work that God has for us, we find fulfillment, instead of just a nine-to-five job that we’re doing only to make money.

When we spend our free time as God would have us spend it, blessing people, and letting others bless us, life stays fresh and interesting.

How about you?  Are you feeling like life is a drag?  That nothing is new?  That you’re just existing, rather than truly living?

There’s only one solution to that.  Stop making yourself the center of your life.  When your life centers around you, life dries up.

But when your life is centered around God and his will, your life remains fresh and full of joy.

Seek him.  Seek his will for your life.  And every day will be new, filled with adventure, God’s love, joy, and peace.

It seems appropriate here to take an interlude from Kings and Chronicles and look at the book of Ecclesiastes, having come to the end of the historical account of Solomon’s life.

And here in Ecclesiastes, we have his reflections on life as an old man.

This is a very difficult book to talk about, and I’m not sure how I’m going to address it yet.

I heard one pastor who spoke on this book call it, “the inspired book of error.” Meaning that it was a book inspired by God, that sets out the erroneous way men saw life and God.

I’m not entirely sure I agree with him completely on this.  On the other hand, I’m not sure I completely disagree either.

I think the difficult thing with tackling a book like this is you really need to take it as a whole, rather than chapter by chapter.

But if you have been following this blog for any length of time, you know I like taking things chapter by chapter.

If I were to sum up the whole of this book in one phrase, however, it’s this: Life is meaningless without God.

And all throughout this book, you see Solomon trying to find meaning for his life apart from God.  He looks for it in philosophy, hedonism, work, and in just about every other facet of life.

But in the end, he comes to this conclusion:

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2)

Throughout Ecclesiastes, you see little glimpses of joy that we can find in life.  And that joy is found in God.

But whenever we try to find the meaning to life without God, we’re doomed to come to the same conclusion as Solomon.  It’s meaningless.

Why?  Because God is life, and he is the source of life.  And when we cut ourselves off from God, we cut ourselves off from the source of life.

Where are you trying to find meaning in your life?

As we explore this book over the next few days or weeks, I pray that you would find the emptiness that comes from pursuing the things of this world, and that you would plug yourself into he who is the author of life.